London Day 3

Lots happened today; I saw a TON. I went back to the Westminster Abbey because I only saw the outside of it the first day I was here. The architecture is phenomenally beautiful. It is absolutely stunning inside. There is so much old history stored inside of that cathedral. I was mostly enthralled with the stone work of the outside building and the ornate details within. I never knew I was such a European architecture nut until I got here; I just love it. I also went to Greenwich today, which was awesome as well. It’s this cute little town, housing the Royal Observatory and National Maritime Museum. We skipped the Maritime Museum, and just walked around the grounds. We walked through the ‘garden’ as they called it, which was soo beautiful, and then headed up to the Royal Observatory which was located up on a hill behind the museum. This building was beautiful, and the view down to the garden and museum, which looks like a palace, was breathtaking. The Royal Observatory is also interesting in the fact that right in front of it is the prime meridian, so I got to take pictures at point zero. I didn’t even know that was in London, honestly, so that was cool. While in Greenwich, Shannon convinced me that I needed to visit a pub, since they do not exist in the U.S. (I don’t think), so off we went. The Spanish Galleon was just like in the old movies; the style has not changed. But then again, I shouldn’t be surprised, because everything in London is old and still just like the movies. It was quite fun, and admittedly she was right, the food was pretty yummy. We headed back around Oxford and Piccadilly Circus to see the shops and areas that I hadn’t gotten to see when I went on my own yesterday. It was nice to have a knowledgeable guide (: I saw tons of amazing buildings like everywhere in London, and visited some interesting shops. She took me into this bookstore called Hatchards, which has been in the same spot and running since 1797. They are known for selling books to royalty, and even have the royal stamp posted up in the building. You can often find signed copies of books in their shop I was informed, which is differential from chain book stores in the U.S. It was a really cute shop. We also went into Fortum and Mason’s, which is a very large and decadent department store of sorts. It sells everything you can imagine and is quite high end. It was a beautiful store and Shannon and I had fun poking around at everything. They even sold ‘exotic’ candies, such as fried spider, chocolate covered ants, and worm lollipops. I pretty much died and turned away as fast as I could. Right around this area, there is also a huge National Geographic store, and we checked out the gallery section of the store where their photographers posted amazing pictures which coincidentally were all African themed. We ran into a Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum and store downtown too, so we looked around for a bit. We then visited an authentic English Café which of course was on my to-do list, called Caffe Concerto. They had amazing deserts sitting in the window for passer-by’s to see. It was very proper and high-end, just as I had imagined them to be. Everything was gourmet and fabulous looking, not to mention tasting. Shannon made me take a picture of my hot chocolate because she thought that everyone in the United States would be jealous. She reminded me a little too late to get my yummy mixed berry tart (: but it was very European, and most certainly professionally showcased. She took me to the Millennium Pedestrian Bridge, which had lovely views of the Tower Bridge, the London Eye, and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre to name a few. Shakespeare’s theatre is the only building in all of London that has a special permit to still have a thatched roof. How amazing is that? It is SO old!! The grounds of St. Paul’s Cathedral were beautiful, and we also visited St. Martins-in-the-Field, and the British National Library. I feel completely accomplished for doing so much today. I learned that speed bumps are referred to as sleeping policemen in England, so funny.